Cameron proposes to
introduce legislation forcing internet service providers (ISPs)
to enact filters which block adult material by default unless
customers “opt-out” – a scheme critics have described as
censorship.

Major ISP Sky broadband and public Wi-Fi provider Friendly WiFi
already have automatic blocks in place on their service.

A leaked policy document from Brussels, dated May 17, suggests
the EU will put an end to both existing and proposed parental
controls in a move guaranteed to rile growing anti-EU sentiment
in the Conservative Party.

The memo, which was seen by the Sunday Times, proposes that
content filters should only be allowed when the
“end-user” has agreed to them and if they have the
“possibility to withdraw consent at any time.”

Hamish MacLeod, chairman of Mobile Broadband Group – a lobby
group which represents Vodafone, Three and EE among others –
cautioned it was wrong to give children responsibility for
filtering content.

He said: “This will undermine the government’s family
friendly policy for the internet. Anybody can buy a pre-pay phone
so are we seriously saying that children will be given the
responsibility to ask for parental controls to be imposed?”

John Carr, a government adviser on child internet safety, said
children’s organizations had been campaigning for the new law.

He said: “The risk is that a major plank of the UK’s approach
to online child protection will be destroyed at a stroke.

“The prime minister and children’s organizations have been
campaigning for it, and the industry have been willing to do it.
It seems incredible that an obscure measure from Brussels could
bring this to a halt.”

Speaking in July 2013, Cameron called for parents to take an
active role in setting internet filters in their households.

He said: “We need good filters that are preselected to be on,
pre-ticked unless an adult turns them off, and we need parents
aware and engaged in the setting of those filters.”

Cameron’s proposed measures have strong support within the
Conservative Party.

The Conservative’s 2015 manifesto pledged to “stop children's
exposure to harmful sexualized content online, by requiring age
verification for access to all sites containing pornographic
material and age-rating for all music videos.”

Tory MP Claire Perry, an outspoken advocate for more extensive
parental controls, called for schools to ban mobile phones and
for parents to take away online devices in order to protect
children.

Critics describe the proposed legislation as censorship and an
attack on freedom of speech.

Jerry Barnett, CEO of protest group Sex & Censorship, told
Wired magazine this month that politicians could use the cover of
“protecting children from porn” in order to introduce
internet censorship.

“This should worry anyone who cares about online free
expression,” he added.